I thought I would take this opportunity to share some observations about wearing both the CI and the HA. At the Buffalo Implant Group meeting last week, there were a number of people who wore both.

There is a difference between the two. A hearing aid is nothing more than an amplifier; the CI is a stimulator. The hearing aid makes sound louder but only for those frequencies at which I can hear, before the implant. In other words, my hearing loss is mostly in the mid-range to high pitch even with the hearing aid. Why? The hearing aid isn’t stimulating the nerves that control the mid-range to high pitch. It is only reducing the amount of loss I have in the low pitches by making that sound louder. The cochlear implant, since it transmits directly to the nerves, is stimulating or producing sound for those nerves that the hearing aid can’t. That is why my loss reduced not only in terms of decibels but also range of frequency.

Anyway, I decided to listen to some old Dave Brubeck who was also my father’s favorite jazz musician. This CD is a compilation of three of his greatest concerts including the one at Carnegie Hall in 1963. Since I hadn’t wore the HA in quite a while, it sounded hollow as if the batteries were dying and took some time to get used to. Bear in mind, the HA is in what was my favorite ear, before I was implanted. That being the left ear which is also known as the music ear. Let me tell you…the music sound full and rich! Since it is a quartet, the CI very clearly picked up Brubeck’s piano and Paul Desmond’s saxophone, considered mid-range to high. The HA did a better job of picking up the lows of Eugene Wright’s bass and Joe Morello’s drums.

Yet, when I listened to the same song with one or the other, I was only able to hear what the particular ear was picking up. For the first time in my life, I was experiencing stereo! It was just an absolutely amazing feeling.

Ah, another reason to become bilateral…